If you haven’t been following it already, do be sure to tune into BBC Radio 4 Extra all this week at 11am to give your ears a ruddy good treat with Adam Marek’s delicious, bizarre and hysterical short stories, taken from his two collections Instruction Manual for Swallowing and The Stone Thrower, published by Comma Press. Today’s dose is ‘The 40-Litre Monkey’, a comic yet slightly unnerving tale of an odd pet shop owner and his even weirder collection of animals. You can catch up on Monday’s episode and see what stories are forthcoming here. Adam has been described by The Independent as ‘Early McEwan meets David Cronenberg’, and  author Alison MacLeod has praised him as ‘one of the best things to have happened to the short story this century’. You can find out more about Adam on his website www.adammarek.co.uk.

And if you missed the last one, bookings are now open for the next Comma Press Short Story Writing Course to be held at MadLab in April and tutored by Claire Dean.  Over the course of six weeks, participants will study the narrative structure of the short story, receive tailored feedback on their writing, and experience a chance to hone their craft to a publishable standard. And there will be biscuits. Lots of biscuits. For more information and to book your place, click here.